Tito Ortiz trains wounded vets
The veterans’ faces flushed red with strain, and sweat drenched their shirts. As their arms and legs started to buckle…
The veterans’ faces flushed red with strain, and sweat drenched their shirts. As their arms and legs started to buckle with fatigue, they pushed on.
Five Marine and Army veterans are training this week with mixed martial arts championship fighter Tito Ortiz in Huntington Beach as part of Pro vs. G.I. Joe: Rehabbing with the Troops, a program that invites veterans to take on intense mental and physical challenges as a means of rehabilitation.
The program, founded and run by Irvine resident Greg Zinone and his Army wife Addie, is big on tough love. The veterans would be hard-pressed to find any sympathy from the couple whose method is to keep veterans challenged to promote healing.
Greg Zinone, 34, said he believes wounded veterans run the risk of wallowing in the emotional and physical scars they suffered in battle.
“We see that as a problem, just enabling these guys and creating professional wounded warriors,” he said. “We involve a commitment.”
Army veteran Arthur Rizer, 34, of Washington, D.C., served in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2005 and 2006. He was injured by an improvised explosive device that caused brain damage resulting in hearing loss, intense bouts of body pain and chronic headaches
“I’m getting better,” said Rizer, who has participated in the program before. “The whole point is to get better.”
All of the men in the program have served in the military and all have been injured in combat. Maybe more difficult to overcome than the physical challenges is conquering the mental and emotional wounds they have suffered.
“More than anything, it’s about the connection with other soldiers; they get it,” Rizer said of the program. “Being injured in combat is different; there is all the emotional stuff that goes with it. I lost 16 friends over there.”
The Zinones started the program four years ago as a virtual challenge by giving wounded veterans video workouts with milestones they had to reach to win prizes. Veterans would also compete in video game challenges against professional athletes including basketball star Shaquille O’Neal and boxer Evander Holyfield.
Ortiz and Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter Ricardo Abreu will be the trainers this week at Ortiz’s gym, The Punishment Training Center. Ortiz, who is in the middle of training for a fight, jumped on board simply because “they asked,” he said.
Ortiz said he has taken five trips with the USO to Iraq and said he wanted to take the opportunity to give back because he is thankful for their service.
“I love pushing human bodies to the limit,” he said. “Us humans, we need to be pushed.”
Ortiz and Abreu warmed up the guys with laps then sent them on intense interval circuits that include using a sledgehammer to beat on a tire, slamming a 20-pound medicine ball to the ground and swinging heavyweight rope in small circles to work the shoulders.
The guys grunt, yell out and some even start singing. Ortiz is in their face shouting positive reinforcement, which is part of his training technique, he said.
“If you’re degrading someone and being negative, they won’t want to do it any more,” he said.
The guys have four more days with Ortiz and Abreu, most of which will be teaching the veterans some MMA moves and working on hand-to-hand combat.
At the end of the week, the veterans will be given a workout prepared by Ortiz and are expected to continue training on their own for the next five weeks.
Zinone said at the end of the six-week program, the veteran who has met the most milestones will be given a brick meant to symbolize building the foundation for their rehabilitation.
“This is like a kick-start, an incredibly cool kick-start” Zinone said.
